INTERNATIONAL NEWS DESK

Syriza was described on the BBC World Service this morning as a “very left-wing party.” It looks as if it will come to power in Greece this Sunday, January 25th.

The big issue, as is common in western democracies, is the economy. In the case of Greece, this means austerity, which, in turn, means the euro.

In May, 2010, faced with imminent national bankruptcy, the European Central Bank, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (the so called troika) bailed out the small Mediterranean country, while imposing strict austerity on the Greeks. Austerity measures were increased in 2011 resulting in very high unemployment, especially amongst the young. The measures were extremely unpopular. Much of the blame was given to the euro, Germany and Angela Merkel.

Today, Syriza is threatening to unilaterally halve the debt, to end Greece’s national “humiliation” and if necessary, to leave the euro. Angela Merkel has indicated she is ok with a Grexit, the term being used for a Greek exit.

One concern is that, if one country withdraws, others will follow. The eurozone could unravel. Although not a member of the eurozone, Great Britain could pull out of the EU, which, again, might influence others.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia died yesterday, automatically succeeded by his half-brother King Salman. Little change is likely in the kingdom in the immediate future. The two kings come from a total of 45 brothers and half-brothers. However, King Salman, aged 79, is likely the last of the present generation.

King Abdullah’s passing is ill-timed. He has been king since 2005 and before that was de facto monarch for ten years as the previous king had suffered a serious stroke. So, for twenty years, he has been the most powerful man in Saudi Arabia and a major figure in the Middle East. His knowledge and experience will be sorely missed.

This is a challenging time for the Arabian peninsula, home of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), perpetrators of the Paris terror attack. Yemen’s pro-American government resigned this week as rebels seized the capital. At the same time, another neighbor, Oman, will soon lose its leader, the pro-western Sultan Qaboos, who is now 74 and has been suffering from an undisclosed medical condition, which has resulted in him being rarely seen in public.

King Abdullah has been involved in bringing down the price of oil. If the king had wanted to, he could have reversed the falling price simply by cutting Saudi production, but he didn’t.

He has also played a major role in supporting western efforts at fighting IS (Islamic State) and supporting Sunni rebels against Syria’s leader, who is allied to Saudi Arabia’s enemy, Shia Iran. It should be noted here that Iran’s leader will attend a memorial for King Abdullah tomorrow. Under Islamic custom, the king was buried today.

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Tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of the death of Sir Winston Churchill. He died on 24th January 1965.

His official biographer is Sir Martin Gilbert. Sir Martin spends two months every year at conservative Hillsdale College in Michigan, where he lectures on Churchill. He has willed his extensive Churchill library to the college.

A few years ago, a student invited me to go with him to one of the lectures.

I asked Sir Martin to sign my copy of his one volume book on Churchill, which he gladly did. I also took the opportunity to ask him a question: “If Churchill had never lived, what would have happened in World War Two?” His response was: “We wouldn’t have gotten very far.” His lecture that evening illustrated his point.

That evening’s talk was on the sinking of the French fleet after the fall of France.

Churchill ordered that the fleet should be sunk so that it would not fall into the hands of the Germans. Hundreds of French naval personnel died in the British attack on the fleet. The incident remains controversial to this day. Not only did it deny the Germans the use of the fleet, it had the added side benefit of convincing US President Franklin Roosevelt to back Churchill. He was now convinced that the British war-time leader would stop at nothing to win the war.